Estonia and Lithuania face migrant smuggling and detention scandals

In Lithuania, inspections of migrant reception centres have revealed severe deficiencies, including inadequate hygiene, insufficient medical care and reports of migrants being forced to cook eggs in empty metal tins. Officials say the conditions raise questions about dignity and safety, and a lengthy report by the Seimas Control Bureau lists numerous violations across the centres.

At the same time, Estonian citizens have been arrested for involvement in human‑smuggling operations targeting Latvia. Border guards stopped a micro‑bus in Skaistkalne parish carrying eleven undocumented migrants who had entered via Belarus, and later seized a vehicle in Rēzekne driven by an Estonian woman that contained two Ethiopian and Eritrean migrants. Authorities say some Estonians were offered up to €5,000 to transport people across the border, prompting criminal proceedings against the suspects.